Xanthi: Go for the ouzo, stay for the food

I had never tried the Greek liquor, ouzo before going to Xanthi. I had it on my first visit there and it is now one of the major reasons I look forward to returning to Xanthi again and again.

Not for those who don't like aniseed flavours, ouzo is great fun especially when ice and/or water are added to the liquor for easier drinking of the strong liquor, simultaneously creating the mysterious 'ouzo effect' by turning the liquid cloudy white. Fun, but a serious, warming drink - this time, the Barbayianni Green.

Pickled shitake mushrooms at Xanthi, Level 6, Westfield Sydney, Sydney CBD

The other thing I love about drinking ouzo at Xanthi is that with certain serving sizes of ouzo, you receive complimentary pickles or ouzomezedakia, small sharing plates from the kitchen to nibble on while drinking.

I adored the pickled shreds of cabbage I had last time, but the pickled shitake mushrooms are equally delightful, spiced generously with fennel and coriander seeds, and maintaining the softened but chewy texture of the rehydrated fungus that is so popular in Asian cuisines.

Pickled octopus

The second pickled item we receive with the ouzo was octopus: bite-sized pieces of barely cooked tentacles that were supremely soft and tender as a result.

While the texture was one of the most exciting aspects, the well balanced flavours of garlic, lemon, oregano and, of course, the sourness from pickling removed any trace of fishiness for the octopus-weary.

Tarama dip with pita bread

I'm pretty sure I could eat three meals a day with Greek pita bread. I absolutely adore the stuff; soft and about as fluffy as a flatbread can get and simply meant to be with dips.

All the dip choices sound fantastic at Xanthi but this time we tred the salted and cured cod roe tarama, which was salty, pink, airy and so very moreish.

Sheftalies - Cypriot style pork meatballs

The sheftalies meat balls are more like chunky sausage slices than the minced meatballs I'm more familiar with. Showing off great grill marks within their caul fat skins, these spiced pork balls were lifted with a squeeze of lemon.

BBQ smoked lamb cutlets

Two barbequed cutlets form the lamb ouzomezedakia, which is just the slightest bit awkward among three lamb-eaters at the table. We try not to fight over the delectably smoke-infused, soft-as-butter cutlets sitting atop a creamy puree, but in hindsight, I probably should have tussled for it.

Imamaldi - stuffed roasted eggplant

By the last of our ouzomezedakia, the dining room had become noticeably warm and even a little smoky in the areas facing the open kitchen, but nothing a Mythos beer couldn't help distract from.

The stuffed and roasted eggplant was a soft, sticky mess so I'm not sure if it were really stuffed or just topped with the spicy tomato mix. The tomato-based sauce immediately reminded me of Italian cuisine while the spiced yoghurt added a more familiar flavour profile to the eggplant.

Pork belly baklava

We had a bit of a break between our small shared dishes and the more substantial ones, which was a fine idea considering the impending richness to come.

The pork belly baklava is pretty much a must-order; I mean, hand rolled fillo pastry and pork crackling says it all. Within the pastry roll is shredded pork belly that's not too fatty, chopped dates and pistachios, served with a rather sweet date and mastic sauce.

Prawn and scallop pastry

The prawn and scallop fillo pastry is an interesting one too, with a creamy sauced filling of scallop slices, chopped prawn and an array of herbs plus salmon roe for presentation. Half the table preferred the pork version and the other half the seafood one, so there's really something for everyone.

Caramel baklava ice cream

I was approaching seriously full at dessert time but could hardly resist a couple of sweets to share. The caramel baklava ice cream wasn't quite what I was expecting given the honeyed pastry is my favourite part of baklava.

With plenty of chopped nuts and vanilla bean ice cream, the caramel sauce was a little too much for me to handle but the sweet tooths loved it.

Plate of Hippocrates

I was more interested in the Plate of Hippocrates which featured cubes of "compressed" pineapple, a lovely pineapple sorbet that awakened the palate, pomegranate, mint and a spongey chocolate cake with chocolate sauce.

This array of ingredients wouldn't seem to really go together in theory, and the chocolate component almost didn't, but it was certainly interesting enough that I would order it again (there's some blurb on the menu about the properties of pomegranate as perceived in ancient Greek times).

The end bill was, again, really quite reasonable and given the size of the menu, I can have a very different Greek dining experience at Xanthi time after time. As for the ouzo menu, two down, many to go.